


Dirty Laundry

by valda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Politics, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Infidelity, Semi-Public Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 05:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: At the banquet following the memorial service for Senator Brendol Hux, Kylo Ren, son of Senator Leia Organa, sees Brendol's son Armitage in person for the first time.





	Dirty Laundry

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Tumblr [here](http://cosleia.tumblr.com/post/177661456438/dirty-laundry).

“Okay, look. No,” Rey said, waving a canape in Kylo’s face.

“Manners,” Kylo said.

Rey rolled her eyes at him and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth. “Who are you to lecture me about  _manners_ ,” she half-said, half-chewed, “when you’re the one who wants to proposition a guy whose dad  _just died_?”

Kylo laid his knife and fork down elegantly, because unlike his half-sister, he was not a savage. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

It took Rey a moment to finish the bite. After she swallowed she went straight for Kylo’s wine glass; as this was her third attempt, he expected it this time and pulled it out of her reach. “You know our moms will both kill me if you even have a sip, Rey. You’re nineteen.”

“But Dad wouldn’t care, and I’m going to his place after this.”

Kylo let out the sort of soul-weary sigh that up until a few weeks ago, he would never have expected to hear from himself. At least not until he was an old man. He wasn’t even thirty yet. “Can you  _try_  to be civilized?” he asked quietly. “There are cameras everywhere.”

“I can’t believe you grew up like this.”

“Well, I  _can_  believe you didn’t,” Kylo grumbled. He glanced up to the dais, where his mother was about to give her prepared statement. Hopefully most of the cameras would be on her, and the rest on Senator Hux’s family, but he was sure a few would be spared for Senator Organa’s family, given the recent scandalous revelation of Rey’s existence. The vultures loved shit like that.

The ballroom quieted as Kylo’s mother began to speak. She and Senator Hux had not been friends. They’d worked together on a few bipartisan initiatives, but only begrudgingly. Leia had lost all respect for him after President Snoke’s election, said he might have been a hero in the past, but he was all talk now. She’d had to tone down the rhetoric when he fell ill. Now he was dead, and she had to toe the line between angering Hux’s strident fans and alienating those in her own base who saw him as a fraud. This little speech, one of many given at the funeral reception, was a calculated effort to highlight the things she had worked with Hux to accomplish while planting the seeds for future initiatives. Kylo had helped her write it, watched her practice.

Leia and Kylo both understood politics. The problem was, neither of them truly had the patience for it. Leia had managed to fake it for decades, but it had taken a toll on her family, and Kylo’s father Han had ended up leaving.

If he’d actually divorced Leia instead of just running away like a coward, Rey’s existence wouldn’t be controversial.

Kylo’s eyes trailed away from his mother and down to the table where Senator Hux’s family was seated. His widow, Maratelle, was watching Leia hawkishly, as if waiting for a verbal misstep. His son, Armitage, was staring at the table.

This evening was Kylo’s first time seeing the man in person. He was five years older than Kylo, with vibrant red hair slicked back in a severe style that accented his sharp cheekbones. Kylo had always thought he looked distinctive in the photos and news clips he’d seen, but nothing had prepared him for seeing him in person, standing just a few feet away from those golden eyelashes, those murky eyes, those pink lips, that long, lean body.

Rey had caught him staring, and he’d foolishly thought they might have a bonding moment, so he’d told her what he was thinking.

Perhaps he was a bit too straightforward about it. She  _was_ only nineteen.

In any case, Armitage didn’t seem aware of Kylo’s existence. And, unfortunately, Rey was right. Armitage was in mourning. Now was probably the worst time to approach.

But Kylo would remember. He’d make plans. He’d find Armitage again, once a reasonable amount of time had passed, and—

Armitage looked up suddenly, locking eyes with Kylo. Kylo wanted to look away, but found he couldn’t. The corners of Armitage’s lips twitched upward. He crooked a finger, curling it in an obvious  _come here_  gesture, and then he stood up from the table and walked away, right in the middle of Leia’s eulogy.

Plates and silverware clattered as Kylo bolted up from his seat to follow. He was a few steps away when he remembered Rey, but when he glanced over his shoulder she’d already downed half his wine. She was a lost cause. Kylo spun back just in time to see Armitage leaving the ballroom through a grand pair of double doors.

Kylo rushed out into the hallway. As soon as he was through the doors, a hand curled itself into his lapel and yanked him to the side; he stumbled, and Armitage spun him so that his back hit the wall, hard.

He blinked, Armitage’s face coming into focus mere inches from his own. “Hello,” Armitage said, and Kylo could feel the warmth of his breath.

“Hi,” Kylo said. Armitage was holding him by the lapels, pressing him against the wall. But Kylo's hands were free, so he planted them on Armitage’s hips, held him firmly in place.

“Did you need something?” Armitage asked, playful but breathless.

“Yeah,” Kylo said.

And that was what led to Kylo Ren, son of Senator Leia Organa, and Armitage Hux, son of the late Senator Brendol Hux, being discovered in a coat closet by a CNN crew.

Rey never let Kylo live it down.


End file.
